Great Lakes Law

Michigan issues new state rules to limit mercury emissions from power plants

Michigan has just announced new statewide rules to significantly limit mercury emissions from power plants. While the rules aren’t ideal, they are a significant victory on a critically important environmental and public health issue. Mike Shriberg, Policy Director of the Ecology Center, has worked on this issue for many years, going back to his former work with Environment Michigan. Mike was kind enough to offer this guest post on the new mercury emission rules. In... Read more →

Guest Post: Recognizing Federally Reserved Groundwater Rights

Federally reserved water rights are a major issue in the West, and beginning to emerge in disputes and policy issues in the Great Lakes region. While federally reserved water rights are well established for surface waters, courts and states are split on their applicability to groundwater. Carlin Danz, a former water law student and research assistant at the University of Michigan Law School, has prepared an excellent analysis of the debate over recognizing federally reserved... Read more →

EPA proposes rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from large sources under the Clean Air Act

The EPA has just announced a proposed rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the New Source Review program of the federal Clean Air Act. This regulatory action is hardly a surprise, as it’s been coming ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA decision in 2007, which held that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Still, it’s a welcomed development from the Obama administration and EPA, and comes with a... Read more →